Thousand Oaks charter school put on probation

Bridges Charter School in Thousand Oaks has been put on probation because of financial problems, declining enrollment and a board of directors that could not get along.

The Ventura County Board of Education made the move Monday night, issuing Bridges a formal notice of violation, a step it rarely takes. Bridges has 60 days to respond, said Roger Rice, associate superintendent for the Ventura County Office of Education.

"The past makeup of the board was contentious and divided and led to families leaving the school," Rice said. That led to a shortfall in the reserves, he said.

"That was cause for great concern," he said.

Bridges' board of directors made a major change Monday night, unanimously appointing an interim director after firing Director Hilda Salas last week.

Nancy Carroll will start the job today. Carroll was superintendent of the Ocean View School District from 1996 until she retired in 2010.

The board itself also has changed substantially, so that it has mostly new members who weren't involved in conflicts that divided directors in the past.

In addition, school officials have imposed teacher furlough days, frozen salaries and reorganized administrative and support staff positions, Bridges board President Terri Childs told the county board Monday night.

Also, the school has been giving tours and holding parent information nights, she said.

"As of this moment, Bridges is at a new beginning," Childs told trustees.

Still, the county board issued the letter so it can move toward revoking Bridges' charter if the school doesn't follow through on those changes, Rice said. The county board will monitor Bridges' progress, Trustee Dean Kunicki said.

"I'm sure everybody here knows I'm pretty pro-charter school, but I think a notice of violation at this point is warranted," said Kunicki, who wants meeting-by-meeting reports from Bridges.

Carroll has no direct experience with Bridges' philosophy, which focuses on educating the whole child, directors said. But she has an extensive background in education and will learn quickly, they said.

Because Carroll already has some commitments that will keep her off campus occasionally, the board also decided to hire Ellen Smith, a retired Moorpark superintendent, as a substitute interim.

The terms of Carroll's contract still were being worked out Tuesday.

Carroll said she hopes to help Bridges' board set goals and become a more effective team. That will involve training, she said.

She'll also work on increasing enrollment and analyzing the budget. And she hopes to be part of the search for a permanent director.

The school fired Salas partly because of the issues that led to probation, said Bridges board member Randy Witt. Also, Bridges needed a director with more experience.

"It's kind of like when a company goes public," Witt said. "The guy who started it in his garage is not necessarily the best person to lead it when it's grown to 100 employees."

Salas addressed the county board Monday night, saying she accepted responsibility for her part in the school's problems but also saying she could have used more support.

"Having zero board members with any experience in education, with the exception of two who left quickly when they recognized how dysfunctional we were, coupled with a brand-new administrator, could only equal disaster," Salas said. "I take responsibility for my part in being naive about how difficult it is to build a school from the ground up with no model to follow and no mentor to guide me."

Probation is the latest challenge Bridges has faced since its founding in 2010.

In June, two key leaders at the school — Lori Peters and Laura Erlig — resigned amid strife over what direction Bridges should take. The school also has had two homes in its short two-year history. It started out sharing a campus with Glenwood School in Thousand Oaks, an arrangement that pleased neither school. This school year, it moved to Park Oaks School in Thousand Oaks, which was closed in June because of low enrollment.

Bridges has 267 students in kindergarten through eighth grades and hopes to grow to more than 300 next year, Witt said. The school had not planned to grow that fast but needs more students to operate efficiently with ongoing budget cuts, he said.

Bridges will conduct a national search and hopes to have a new director by June, Witt said.